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Modern history
, produced using c. 1450}} (the "modern period," the "modern era," "modern times") refers to the history of the period following the Middle Ages, spanning from about 1500 to the present day. In contrast, " " is history that covers events from around 1945 to the present day. Early modern period " " ; the transition period was the 15th century) to either 1750 or c. 1790–1800, by whichever is favored by a school of scholars defining the period—which, in many cases of , differs as well within a discipline such as art, philosophy or history.}} is a term used by historians to refer to the period between the ( ) and the —roughly 1500 to 1800. The Early Modern period is characterized by the rise of science, and by increasingly rapid , civic , and the . began their rise, initially in northern s such as . The Early Modern period also saw the rise and dominance of the economic theory. As such, the Early Modern period represents the decline and eventual disappearance, in much of the European sphere, of , serfdom, and the power of the . The period includes the , the disastrous , the , European , the peak of European ing, the , and the . . Historians also include the late 17th century, which is typically known as the Age of Reason or , as part of the Enlightenment; however, contemporary historians have considered the Age of Reason distinct to the ideas developed in the Enlightenment. The use of the term here includes both Ages under a single all-inclusive time-frame.}} Renaissance 's (c. 1490), }} 's , meaning "rebirth," referring to the rebirth of classical culture, beginning in the 14th century and extending into the 16th, consisted of the rediscovery of the world's scientific contributions, and of the and social rise of Europe. The Renaissance also engendered a culture of which ultimately led to and the . Although it saw social and political upheaval and revolutions in many pursuits, the Renaissance is perhaps known best for its istic developments and the contributions of such s as and , who inspired the term " ." European expansion During this period, European powers came to dominate most of the world. Although the most developed regions of European classical civilization were more urbanized than any other region of the world, European civilization had undergone a lengthy period of gradual decline and collapse. During the Early Modern Period, Europe was able to regain its dominance; historians still debate the causes. Europe's success in this period stands in contrast to other regions. For example, one of the most advanced civilizations of the Middle Ages was China. It had developed an advanced by 1000 CE. China had a free ry who were no longer subsistence farmers, and could sell their produce and actively participate in the market. According to , writing in the 18th century, China had long been one of the richest, most fertile, best cultivated, most industrious, most urbanized, and most prosperous countries in the world. It enjoyed a technological advantage and had a monopoly in production, piston bellows, construction, , and the . However, it seemed to have long since stopped progressing. , who visited China in the 13th century, describes its cultivation, industry, and populousness almost in the same terms as travelers would in the 18th century. One theory of Europe's rise holds that Europe's played an important role in its success. The Middle East, India and China are all ringed by mountains and oceans but, once past these outer barriers, are nearly flat. By contrast, the , , , and other mountain ranges run through Europe, and the continent is also divided by several seas. This gave Europe some degree of protection from the peril of Central Asian invaders. Before the era of firearms, these nomads were militarily superior to the agricultural states on the periphery of the Eurasian continent and, as they broke out into the plains of northern India or the valleys of China, were all but unstoppable. These invasions were often devastating. The was ended by the in 1258. India and China were subject to periodic s, and Russia spent a couple of centuries under the yoke. Central and western Europe, logistically more distant from the Central Asian heartland, proved less vulnerable to these threats. Geography contributed to important differences. For most of their histories, China, India, and the Middle East were each unified under a single dominant power that expanded until it reached the surrounding mountains and deserts. In 1600 the controlled almost all the Middle East, the ruled China, and the held sway over India. By contrast, Europe was almost always divided into a number of warring states. Pan-European empires, with the notable exception of the , tended to collapse soon after they arose. Another doubtless important geographic factor in the rise of Europe was the Mediterranean Sea, which, for millennia, had functioned as a maritime superhighway fostering the exchange of goods, people, ideas and inventions. Nearly all the agricultural civilizations have been heavily constrained by their . Productivity remained low, and changes easily instigated that brought about civilizations' rise and fall. By about 1500, however, there was a qualitative change in world history. advance and the generated by gradually brought about a widening of possibilities. , showing Europeans' discoveries}} Many have also argued that Europe's institutions allowed it to expand, that s and economics were stronger than elsewhere due to an ideal of peculiar to Europe. In recent years, however, scholars such as have challenged this view. Europe's maritime expansion unsurprisingly—given the continent's geography—was largely the work of its Atlantic states: Portugal, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands. Initially the and s were the predominant conquerors and sources of influence, and their union resulted in the , the first on which the " ". Soon the more northern English, French and Dutch began to dominate the Atlantic. In a series of wars fought in the 17th and 18th centuries, culminating with the , Britain emerged as the new world power. Regional developments , (formerly ), }} came under the rule of the in 1501, succeeded by the in 1736, the in 1751, and the in 1794. Areas to the north and east in Central Asia were held by and . The , after taking in 1453, quickly gained control of the Middle East, the , and most of North Africa. In , this period saw a decline in many civilizations and an advancement in others. The declined after coming under the and later the . In west Africa, the fell to the Moroccans in 1591 when they invaded with guns. The South African gave way to smaller kingdoms such as , , and . suffered from the 1531 invasion from neighbouring Muslim , and in 1769 entered the (Age of Princes) during which the Emperor became a figurehead and the country was ruled by warlords, though the royal line later would recover under Emperor . The , in the , began to decline in the 17th century, succeeded by the . Other civilizations in Africa advanced during this period. The experienced its golden age, as did the . The rose to power in what is modern day in 1670. The also thrived during this period. European reached its zenith at this time. section, }} In , the gave way in 1644 to the , the last Chinese imperial dynasty, which would rule until 1912. experienced its (1568–1603), followed by the (1603–1868). The (1392–1910) ruled throughout this period, successfully repelling 16th- and 17th-century invasions from Japan and China. Japan and China were significantly affected during this period by expanded maritime trade with Europe, particularly the Portuguese in Japan. During the Edo period, Japan would pursue isolationist policies, to eliminate foreign influences. , , }} On the , the and the would give way, beginning in the 16th century, to the . Starting in the northwest, the Mughal Empire would by the late 17th century come to rule the entire subcontinent, except for the southernmost Indian provinces, which would remain independent. Against the Muslim Mughal Empire, the Hindu was founded on the west coast in 1674, gradually gaining territory—a majority of present-day India—from the Mughals over several decades, particularly in the (1681–1701). The Maratha Empire would in 1818 fall under the control of the British , with all former Maratha and Mughal authority devolving in 1858 to the . In 1511 the Portuguese overthrew the in present-day Malaysia and Indonesian . The Portuguese held this important trading territory (and the valuable associated navigational strait) until overthrown by the Dutch in 1641. The , centred on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, became the dominant trading power in the region. expanded with the Dutch in the , the Portuguese in , and the Spanish in the . Into the 19th century, European expansion would affect the whole of Southeast Asia, with the British in and and the French in . Only would successfully resist colonization. The Pacific islands of would also be affected by European contact, starting with the circumnavigational voyage of , who landed on the and other islands in 1521. Also notable were the voyages (1642–44) of to present-day , and nearby islands, and the voyages (1768–1779) of Captain , who made the first recorded European contact with . Britain would found its first colony on Australia in 1788. In the , the vigorously colonized the newly discovered continents, largely displacing the , and destroying the advanced civilizations of the and the . Spain, Portugal, Britain, and France all made extensive territorial claims, and undertook large-scale settlement, including the importation of large numbers of African . Portugal claimed . Spain claimed the rest of , , and southern . Britain colonized the east coast of North America, and France colonized the central region of North America. Russia made incursions onto the northwest coast of North America, with a first colony in present-day in 1784, and the outpost of in present-day in 1812. In 1762, in the midst of the , France secretly ceded most of its North American claims to Spain in the . Thirteen of the British colonies declared independence as the in 1776, ratified by the in 1783, ending the . won France’s claims back from Spain in the in 1800, but sold them to the United States in 1803 as the . In , was crowned in 1547 as the first of Russia, and by annexing the Turkic khanates in the east, transformed Russia into a regional power. The countries of western Europe, while expanding prodigiously through technological advancement and colonial conquest, competed with each other economically and militarily in a state of almost constant . Often the wars had a , either Catholic versus Protestant, or (primarily in eastern Europe) Christian versus Muslim. Wars of particular note include the , the , the , and the . Napoleon came to power in France in 1799, an event foreshadowing the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century. Late Modern period 1750–1914 's powered the .}} The changed humanity's understanding of the world and led to the , a major transformation of the world's economies. The in the 17th century had had little immediate effect on industrial ; only in the second half of the 18th century did scientific advances begin to be applied substantially to practical . The Industrial Revolution began in and used new modes of production—the , , and —to manufacture a wide array of goods faster and using less labour than previously required. The also led to the beginnings of modern in the late-18th century and s. and would grow to have a profound effect on world events and on . s, 1898}} After Europeans had achieved influence and control over the Americas, activities turned to the lands of Asia and Oceania. In the 19th century the European states had social and technological advantage over Eastern lands. Britain gained control of the Indian subcontinent, Egypt and the ; the ; while the Dutch cemented their control over the . The British also colonized Australia, New Zealand and South Africa with large numbers of British colonists emigrating to these colonies. Russia colonized large pre-agricultural areas of Siberia. In the late 19th century, the European powers . Within Europe, economic and military challenges created a system of s, and ethno-linguistic groupings began to identify themselves as distinctive nations with aspirations for cultural and political autonomy. This would become important to peoples across the world in the 20th century. During the , the world economy became reliant on as a fuel, as new methods of , such as and s, effectively shrank the world. Meanwhile, industrial and damage, present since the discovery of fire and the beginning of civilization, accelerated drastically. The advantages that Europe had developed by the mid-18th century were two: an culture, and the wealth generated by the Atlantic trade (including the ). By the late 16th century, from the Americas accounted for the Spanish empire's wealth. The profits of the and of plantations amounted to 5% of the at the time of the . While some historians conclude that, in 1750, in the most developed regions of China was still on a par with that of Europe's Atlantic economy, other historians like hold that the per-capita productivity of western Europe had by the late surpassed that of all other regions. 1914–1945 }} : , , 1945}} The 20th century opened with Europe at an apex of wealth and power, and with much of the world under its direct control or its indirect domination. Much of the rest of the world was influenced by heavily Europeanized nations: the United States and Japan. As the century unfolded, however, the global system dominated by rival powers was subjected to severe strains, and ultimately seemed to yield to a more fluid structure of independent nations organized on Western models. This transformation was catalysed by wars of unparalleled scope and devastation. destroyed many of Europe's empires and monarchies, and weakened Britain and France. In its aftermath, powerful ideologies arose. The of 1917 created the first state, while the 1920s and 1930s saw dictatorships gain control in Italy, Germany, Spain and elsewhere. Ongoing national rivalries, exacerbated by the economic turmoil of the , helped precipitate . The s of Europe and Japan pursued an ultimately doomed course of , in the course of which orchestrated the murder of six million in and of millions of , , and other , while murdered millions of . An earlier, model of had been provided by 's mass murder of . The World War II defeat of the opened the way for the advance of into , , , , , China, , and . Category:Modern history